Rajasthan Royals coach on Ben Stokes' availability for IPL 2020: 'A difficult scenario'

Rajasthan Royals coach Andrew McDonald has finally opened up on the availability of star all-rounder Ben Stokes for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League that gets underway this Saturday. Last week it was learned that Stokes might miss the first part of the tournament due to personal reasons.

'It’s a difficult scenario': Andrew McDonald 

“First and foremost, thoughts with the Stokes family. It’s a difficult scenario, so we’re giving him as much time as he needs, and connecting with him as best we can. So yeah, we’re not sure where Stokesy’s at right now, but once it has played out, then we can make our decisions from there. But I don’t want to second-guess what will happen with him just yet,” said McDonald while speaking to ESPNCricinfo.

“You’re going to have other moving parts throughout the tournament. There will be injuries, fatigue, all sorts of things. So while there’s speculation around where Smudger’s at, and Stokesy, we feel we’ve got some good coverage to be able to play different ways", he added.

“We’ve added some depth in terms of our left-hand batting, in particular in (Anuj) Rawat and (Yashashvi) Jaiswal among the home-grown players, so we think we’ve got some options there. The way we set up at the auction, we feel we can structure our side up to three or four different ways,” the RR coach further added.

Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2020

Coming back to IPL 2020, the Royals will kickstart their campaign when they lock horns against three-time winners Chennai Super Kings at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah on September 22. RR will be led by Steve Smith. However, it has been reported that ace all-rounder Ben Stokes might miss the first part of the tournament due to personal issues.

Meanwhile, the Royals would be hoping for a revival in their fortunes after having unveiled their official jersey as they have not succeeded in replicating the same performance post the inaugural edition in 2008 where the Australian spin legend Shane Warne had led them to their first and only triumph in the cash-rich event.

READ: IPL 2020: Will New Jersey & Sponsorship Change Rajasthan Royals' Fortunes This Season?

(Image Courtesy: PTI)